Barbara Moraff
Barbara Moraff (born 1939) is an American poet of the Beat generation. Life Moraff was born in Patterson, New Jersey. Jack Kerouac called Moraff "the baby of the Beat generation" because she was just 18 when they met but was already being published by Leroi Jones and in Evergreen Review. She was reading in various New York City coffeehouses when she was able to get out of a very restrictive home environment — complicated by plastic surgery needed to repair her face after a mutilation. In a 1964 interview with Paideuma (University of Maine), Kerouac called Moraff "the best girl poet writing in America". " Moraff and her lover moved to Vermont in late 1961, where they built a small one-room cabin on land belonging to a former Black Mountain College student with whom they exchanged work for rent. At that time Barbara was experimenting writing SOUND poetry.Denise Levertov article, Virginia Quarterly Review, aligning Moraff, Duncan, Creeley, Olson Robert Duncan sent a poem by her to Denise Levertov. Moraff's oldest child, Alesia, was born in 1966, and shortly afterward Moraff bought a remote hilltop farm in Strafford, Vermont. She taught herself organic farming practices and for many years raised the family's food and kept a cow and two goats. She made cheese and studied medicinal herbs. Her son Marco was born in 1971. In 1972 he was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. In 1973, Moraff founded Vermont Artisans,http://www.vtartisans.com/ Vermont's first craft sales and educational cooperative. She studied human nutrition and after 3 years of research devised a nutritional plan for Marco, which resulted in the writing of The Cookbook/Handbook to Nutrition for Kids Who Have Cystic Fibrosis. It was considered crazy to even discuss nutritional problems, let alone write a cookbook for children who required enzymes at every meal in order to metabolize food nutrients. Moraff self-published the book; it can be found in the CF Foundation's library, and is used by physicians who agree with her commonsense approach of telling one's child that it is his/her body that is ill, not the child-as-person. Marco grew healthy and ran long-distance track in high school. He became an artist, and many of his works are now in private collections. He also designed and built furniture using driftwood, branchwood, marble, and slate. He died in April 2007 as a result of his cystic fibrosis. Moraff met Chogyam Trungpa in 1974 through Allen Ginsberg. She thought she could learn Tibetan Buddhist breathing methods to help Marco develop lungs strong enough to resist the early ravages of CF. Moraff continued her Buddhist practice and study, attending the last seminary at which Trungpa was present, and later, ngedon school. Moraff began writing poetry again in 1976 when asked by a feminist lesbian press to sit on its editorial board. There she edited the magazine CONCH and co-edited an anthology of local women's writings and art. This included the earliest published work of Louise Erdrich. Moraff lives in Vermont. She continues to write, and also creates pottery and cooks. Although partially disabled, Moraff is still able to produce some pottery, mostly commissioned dinner sets. In the summer, she bakes wholegrain sourdough bread and sells it at local farmers' markets. Moraff has appeared in 2 movies: an anti-war film Button, Button (aired on CBS) and Enlightened Society (Vajradhatu Films). Publications Poetry *''Mister''. West Haven, CT: Penny Poems, 1959. *''Hunger in the Golden Elevators of Autumn''. West Haven, CT: Penny Press, 1960. *''You: A play''. Orono, ME: Prensa de lagar / Wine Press, 1966. *''Four Young Lady Poets'' (by Rochelle Owens, Diane Wakoski, Carol Bergé & Barbara Moraff; edited by LeRoi Jones). New York: Totem Press, 1969. *''Shibui''. Green River, VT: Longhouse, 1979. *''Learning to Move''. Hartford, CT: Potes & Poets Press, 1982. ISBN 978-0-937013-11-3 *''Telephone Company Repairman Poems''. West Branch, IA: Toothpaste Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0-915124-75-6 *''Potterwoman''. Markesan, WI: Pentagram, 1983. *''Contra La Violencia''. Buffalo, NY: White Pine Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0-934834-56-8 *''You've Got Me''. Green River, VT: Longhouse, 1987. *''Deadly Nightshade''. Minneapolis, MN: Coffee House Press (Morning Coffee Chapbook), 1989. ISBN 978-0-918273-61-1 *''A Single Branch, A Single Flower Enough''. Charleston, IL: Tel-let, 1993. *''Footprint''. Green River, VT: Longhouse, 2007. *''Vermont Farm Richly Green''. Green River, VT: Longhouse, 2007. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Barbara Moraff, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 21, 2014. See also *Beat poets * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *3 poems for Cid Corman ;Audio video *Barbara Moraff at YouTube ;Books * Books by Barbara Moraff at Goodreads *Barbara Moraff at Amazon.com Category:American poets Category:Beat Generation writers Category:1939 births Category:Living people Category:People from Paterson, New Jersey Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:Beat Generation poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:American women writers